Buttonhole positioner



Nov. 26, 1957 N. o. BERARDINELLI 2,814,126

' BUTTONHOLE POSITIONER Filed Dec. 6. 1954 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 LONG REGULAR SHORT 7d CENTER BUTTON HOLE INVENTOR ATTORNEY Nov. 26, 1957 Filed Dec. 6. 1954 N. o. BERARDINELLI 2,814,126

BUTTONHOLE' POSITIONER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IIJJJJLZ III II IlLTl "L1 Inventor 5} Pa r/zer Carla)" M72707)? eys v United States Patent BUTTONHOLE POSITIONER Nicola 0. Berardinelli, Chicago, Ill. if V V Application December 6, 1954, Serial No. 473,134

1 Claim. (Cl. 33-190 I This invention relates to the field of clothing manufacture and has particular relation to a device for use in accurately positioning and forming buttonholes in cloth- One purpose of the invention is to provide a device for use in accurately positioning and forming buttonholes in mens single-breasted topcoats and suit coats.

Another purpose is to provide such a device which shall be economical to manufacture and easy to use.

- Another purpose is to provide a single unit capable of use in positioning and forming buttonholes in singlebreasted topcoats as well as suit coats.

Other purposes will appear from time to time in the course of the specification and claim. a

I illustrate my invention more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevation;

Figure 2 is a front elevation on a reduced scale showing the device in use;

Figure 3 is a view in cross section taken on the line 33 of Figure 1; v

Figure 4 is a plane view of a modified form of my invention;

Figure 5 is a side view of the device shown in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a detail plane view showing a further modification;

Figure 7 is a view taken on the line 77 of Figure 6; and Figure 8 is a side view of the structure illustrated in Figure 6.

Like parts are indicated by like symbols throughout the specification and drawings. a

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 466,907, filed November 4, 1954, now Patent No. 2,741,851. 7 s

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to Figure 1, numeral 1 generally indicates an elongated generally rectangular body portion. The body portion 1 may be formed, for example, of transparent plastic. It will be realized, however, that the material of which the body 1 is formed may be varied without departing from the nature and scope of my invention. 2 indicates a slot cut through the body portion 1 at a point intermediate its ends and extending laterally of its longitudinal axis from a point generally near the lateral center of the body portion 1 to and through the longitudinal or forward edge 3. Spaced along the edge 3 above the slot 2 is a similar slot 4. Spaced a predetermined distance beyond the slot 4 from the central slot 2 is a slot 5 and, similarly, beyond the slot 5 is a third slot 6.

Spaced beyond the slot 6 from the central slot 2 for a distance greater than the spacing between the slots 4 and 5 and between slots 5 and 6 is a fifth slot 7 above which the slot 8 is spaced for a distance substantially equal to the distance between the slots 4 and 5. Spaced above the slot 8 or beyond the slot 8 from the center slot 2 is a seventh slot 9, the spacing between the slots 8 and 2,814,126 Patented Nov. 26, 1957 7 and 8.

Spaced along the edge 3 from the central slot 2 In an opposite direction from the slot 4 and for approximately the same distance as that between the slots 2 and 4 is a slot 10. Spaced beyond the slots 10 from thecentral slot 2 for distances approximately equal to those between the slots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are similar slots 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.

It will be noted that all of the slots 215 extend from points adjacent the lateral center of the body portion 1 to and through the longitudinal edge 3,

A dividing line 16 may be placed upon the upper surface of the body portion 1 and may define an area encompassing the slots 2; 4, 5, 6 and 10, 11, 12. .It will be realized that where the body portion 1 is formed of transparent plastic, the line 16 may be seen from either the upper or lower face of the body 1 and may, in fact, be formed within the body 1. n

The purpose of the, line 16 is to separate the slots encompassed therewithin from those at the upper and lower ends of the body 1, the purpose of which will appear hereinbelow. p t

The slots 215 may be marked, as shown in the drawings, i. e. the slots 4, 10, 7 and 13 may be marked Shortf the slots 5, 11, 8 and 14 may be marked Regular, and the slots 6, 1 2, 9 and 15 may be marked Long. L The central slot 2 may be marked Center buttonhole.

Referring now to Figure 4, the body portion 1, illustrated in the earlier figures, is shown as having hingedly connected thereto a measuring member, generally indicated by the numeral 50. A hinge 51 may be secured to the lower edge of the body portion 1 and to a first segment 52 of the member 50. The segment 52 may have at its opposite end a hinge 53 to which is connected a second segment 54 of the member 50. As illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 5, the hinges 51 and 53 permit the segments 52 and 54 to be folded upon themselves and alongside the body portion 1. The segment 52 has a plurality of markings or indicators 55 along one edge thereof and has, also, the markings 56, marked Short, Regular, and Long. Similarly, the segment 54 has the markings 57 and the indicating lines 58, which are marked Short, Regular, and Long. As illustrated in dotted lines at 60 and 61, the lower edge of a suit coat may be positioned in alignment with one of the markings 56, and the lower edge of an overcoat or topcoat may be positioned in alignment with one of the markings 58 in order to position the body portion 1 on the garment to be-marked for buttons or buttonholes. While the markings 56, 58 provide indicators for garments having the categories known as Short, Regular" and Long, it may well be that, in particular circumstances; variations-will occur, particularly in relation to certain styles and sizes. In order to provide for this, I propose to mount a slide 70, illustrated in Figures 6, 7, and 8,- 'upon the segments 52, 54. While one slide 70 is illustrated in Figures 68, it will be understood that a similar slide will be provided for use on segment 52. The slide 70 comprises a flat portion 71 overlying the top surface of the member 50. A connector means or rivet member 72 may extend through an elongated slot 73 in the member 50 to retain the slide 70 on the member 50 and to permit the slide to be moved along the member 50, the slot 73 constituting limiting means to the movement of the slide 70. The slide 70 may have thereon the markings 7 4, which are labeled Short, Regular, and Long. Thus is provided an adjustable marking member which is movable to permit alignment with garments of various sizes.

It will be realized that whereas I have described and illustrated a practical and operative device, nevertheless,

many changes may be made in the size, shape, number and disposition of elements without departing from the spirit of my invention. I, therefore, wish my description and drawings to be taken as in a broad sense illustrative or diagrammatic, rather than as limiting the to my precise showing.

Theuse and operation of my invention are as follows:

As illustrated best in Figure 2, the body portion 1 may be placed upon the outer surface of the garment on which buttonholes are to be positioned and formed. Normally the garment will be laid out on a horizontal surface and the body I placed thereon, as illustrated in Figure 2, with the forward edge 3 paralleling a forward edge 19 of the garment which is indicated generally by the numeral 20. In so placing the body portion 1, the operator places the slot 2 in the position previously chosen as the location for the centerbuttonhole.

It will be realized that, whereas the device has been described as one usable in locating and forming buttonholes in garments, it is nonetheless equally usable in locating and marking the positions in which buttons are to be placed on such garments. For example, the illustration in Figure 2indicates the use of the device in relation to that part of the garment on which buttons are normally After the device has been placed in the position shown in Figure2, the operator, using any desirable marking means which may, for example, be chalk, soap or even a cutting instrument, merely places such marking means in the slot 2 and draws the marker toward the edge 3 within the slot 2, thus marking the goods beneath the slot 2.

Where the garment 20 is, as illustrated in Figure 2, a suit coat, the area within the line 16 is used. If the garment is of a size within the category known as Short sizes, the operator then moves his marking means toward theedge 3 through the slots 4 and 10 to position the upper and lower buttons and buttonholes on the garment. Similarly, if the garment is among the sizes known as Regular or Long, the operator moves his marking means through the slots and 11 or 6 and 12, respectively.

The process described immediately above with relation to the use of the device with suit coats or short coats is followed in the same manner with relation to overcoats or outercoats. That is, the operator first moves his marking means through the central slot 2 and thereafter, depending upon the size of the outercoat, moves his. marking means through one of the sets of upper and lower slots 7, 13 or 8, '14 or 9, 15, depending upon whether the outercoat is of a size coming within the categories known as Short, Regular, or Long.

Where the device is used for marking buttonholes, it

will be realized that the operator could use a cutting instrument and could move such cutting instrument through the appropriate slots in the device to actually cut the buttonhole in the goods. Thus, the slots 215 are usable not only in insuring the proper and accurate location of such buttonholes, but also in providing a guide for the cutting means forming the holes and thus insuring that the longitudinal axis of such buttonholes is straight and is perpendicular with relation to the gar- 'm'ent edge 19.

While Figure 2 illustrates my device as being used with one edge 19 of the garment 20, it will be realized that the operator, in order to use the device with the opposed garment edge, merely rotates the device about the longitudinal edge 3 or, in other words, he merely turns it over in order to place the longitudinal edge 3 along the garment edge opposed to the edge 19.

I claim:

Means usable in positioning and forming buttonholes in garments of various sizes, including a generally rectangular transparent body member, said body member having an edge positionable along one edge of the garment, said body edge having a plurality of slots formed therein, each of said slots communicating with and extending rearwardly, perpendicularly from said body edge for a distance substantially half the width of said body,

one of said slots constituting a center slot and being positioned adjacent the center of said body edge, the remainder of said slots being grouped into four groups, two ofsaid groups being positioned substantially an equal distance on the opposite sides of said center slot, the remaining two groups being spaced an equal distance beyond said first-named slots, the slots within each of said groups varying in length in relationship with predetermined garment sizes and articulated positioning means for said body member comprising an elongated element pivotally mounted on said member and movable into position within the plane of said member to constitute an extension thereof, said element having markings thereon positionable in alignment with a lower edge of the garment to be marked, said element comprising a pair of articulated longitudinal portions of linear extension equal to that of said body member and being foldable to lie along one surface thereof and an indicator slide selectably positionable along and upon said positioning means, said positioning means having a plurality of aligned apertures and pin-means insertable through said slide and said apertures to removably retain said slide on said positioning means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

